If we ever go back to the moon, how are we going to cope with its hidden hazard?

Fine as flour, but as rough as sandpaper, lunar dust was the bane of Apollo astronauts who visited the moon. It caused problems with spacesuits. It gave them hay fever. It permeated the cabin of the lunar landers.

Gene Cernan, in the lunar module, after battling the dusty lunar surface during Apollo 17. (NASA)

Worse than these nuisances, there’s evidence that moon dust may in fact be toxic to humans.

So what are we going to do if NASA ever sends astronauts back to the surface of the moon?

Believe it or not, even though NASA doesn’t have current plans to return astronauts to the moon — or any other planets, dwarf planets or moons in the solar system, but that’s another story — engineers at Johnson Space Center have been thinking about this problem.

And their solution is as brilliant as it is simple. Put the spacesuits outside.

NASA’s space exploration vehicle, from behind. (moi)

I had a chance recently to visit Building 9 at Johnson Space Center, where they keep all the cool stuff, including prototype rovers like the Space Exploration Vehicle shown above. It’s designed the operate on the moon.

Here’s a look at the vehicle from the front:

The Space Exploration Vehicle. (moi)

The vehicle is pressurized, with two seats inside. It’s designed to require little or no maintenance, be able to travel thousands of miles climbing over rocks and up 40 degree slopes during its ten year life.

So how does the astronaut get into the spacesuit? Here’s what it looks like in the interior of the rover.

Inside the space exploration vehicle. (moi)

To get to the spacesuit, you open this door. And when you do, you see this:

Step into your spacesuit. (moi)

All you have to do is step into the suit, and then put your arms into the blue holes. Then your fellow astronaut closes the pressurized hatch, and off you go.

When your moonwalk is done, all you have to do is reconnect to the rover, open the hatch, and climb back inside. Cool eh?

So is all this in vain? Hopefully not. The engineers at Johnson Space Center told me they’re working to be get in a position such that, if NASA gets the green light to do an extended lunar mission, they’ll be able to develop a final rover with two exterior spacesuits within three years.